Turning Off Cybersecurity to Increase Productivity Shouldn’t Be How the Problem Gets Solved

It seems security teams are under a lot of pressure from the organization when it comes to the balance between productivity and staying secure.

Our infographic below explains how this plays out: with some saying they turn off security and others modifying it.

Cybersecurity shouldn’t be this hard and it shouldn’t impact end user behavior. Users should be able to click with confidence.

Turning off or modifying cybersecurity isn’t going to solve the problem of preventing breaches. We asked security professionals at InfoSec London in June 2017, and they revealed they have had to make some tough choices. A number of them said they had to turn security off so folks could get their jobs done. Moreover, they have had leaders from other parts of the organization ask them to modified security controls to increase productivity.

We’ve summarized the data in our infographic below. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this struggle. In a study we did at RSAC 2017 last February, security pros admitted to paying ransoms just so leadership wouldn’t find out they’d been breached. Security shouldn’t be a burden. It needs to protect everyone in the organization while allowing them to work at speed – and not worry about opening attachments or surfing the web. Virtualization-based security is the answer (that’s what we do!).

Jennifer Carole is VP, Global Marketing at Bromium. She's committed to keeping the Internet safe for democracy, education and commerce. She's also known for taking risks, being bold and is typically the one responsible for mischief. You can learn more about her professionally on LinkedIn.